The Administrative Core will provide the administrative oversight for the Center for Molecular Medicine and the COBRE resources designed to build and strengthen the Center. The Administrative Core under the direction of Lou Hersh, the COBRE PI, and Sidney Whiteheart, Program Coordinator, will provide leadership, oversight, and coordination of the various activities associated with the Ceriter and it COBRE resources. The Administrative Core will facilitate and implement the goals and objectives of this COBRE and facilitate the transition of the Center for Molecular Medicine and its associated Cores to a sustainable independent status. The Administrative Core will provide oversight of the various activities associated with the COBRE grant including its voucher program, its pilot grant program, its mentoring activities, and its scientific cores. The Administrative Core will work with the Intemal and External Advisory Committees, and the Core directors, and to meet our goals and objectives. The Administrative Core will oversee the budgets associated with the COBRE, coordinate the various mentoring and Advisory Board meetings, track core usage, prepare reports, etc. The specific objectives of the Administrative Core include enhancing and sustaining the infrastructure of the Center for Molecular Medicine including its research core facilities, increasing the critical mass of investigators whose research focuses on the molecular basis of human disease, fostering new, collaborative and novel research in the Center providing a foundation for investigators to obtain extramural research support and to expand and develop educational activities through the scientific cores. The Administrative Core will use a number of approaches to facilitate faculty mentoring especially for junior untenured faculty, to enhance educational initiatives associated with the Center and its cores, to optimally use the pilot grant program to enhance competitive research, to facilitate programmatic grant development, and to develop collaborations with other IDeA centers and institutions in the region.